Unlucky
by poisonivy9675
Summary: Minato was duped by Kushina, but she gets the worst of it when the nine-tailed fox takes revenge. Kakashi comes along with unfortunate timing and the fox is sealed within him, leaving Anbu operations a no-go and him stuck with Minato. But relations thicken and circumstances leave our favorite Copynin breathless, as it turns out female jinchurikis were chosen for a reason.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **_**Naruto's characters aren't mine, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto.**_

**This fanfiction belongs to crimsonteresa (as in plot). She would like you to know that it will not be yaoi as will be later seen. She also is considering a sequel when it is done but that is for later.**

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**So I Guess The Wedding's Off**

"I do," said a beautiful young woman clothed in a wedding gown. Her hair was long and a brilliant red, her eyes a buzzing, vibrant green. The dress bodice shined with sparkles and the sleeves and skirt draped down magnificently. Her soft face glowed with anticipation.

"I..." started the man standing across from the woman. His garments were also white, although they looked less pure, as if they were gray, when compared to the wedding dress. He had messy blond hair and sky-deep blue eyes, but his face was filled with uncertainty rather than anticipation.

In front of the two stood a priest of sorts; actually, he was an old, retired ninja based on his appearance. He looked at the blonde impatiently, pitiless to wedding jitters.

"I..." the man tried again, but to no use. He looked into the green eyes of his bride, searching for help and strength, a reminder of who she was and why he was marrying her. Her eyes held nothing for him to find other than the same impatience the "priest" showed. "I..." He looked around at the faces in the audience, than back at the would-be wife with a sudden but firm resolve. "I don't."

Gasps sounded, the biggest from the woman dressed in the white wedding dress.

"Kushina-" the blonde tried, but was cut off.

"Do not. Minato, what were you thinking?" she pleaded. "How could you do that to me?!" Kushina's voice grew louder and more hysterical as she went on shouting at him about how she had deserved something after all her efforts. Too late, she realized she had slipped up after saying that her employers wouldn't accept the excuse of not being married for not having Minato's dead body.

"What?" he asked quietly, in a voice that stayed firm like the calm before a storm. "Kushina, why would you do that?" Minato's voice wavered slightly but remained like a stubborn palm tree.

"What, did you really think that I would settle as a hated person for the creature housed inside her body? Of course not!" the red-head barked. "If I must be hated, I shall be feared for something that I did, not some mangy old fox spirit."

Everything seemed to happen at once then. Kushina was pinned down by see-through bubbly red claws as something emerged from her; guests ran this way and that in horror, blocking present ninjas from coming to the immediate rescue of the town; a young man with silver hair wandering by got pushed past everyone into the writhing Kushina.

"What?" he asked quickly, looking up at Minato who stood frozen, silently questioning the older man. No answer was received that day.

A huge form of red took the shape of a nine tailed fox as it broke free of Kushina's body, crushing her with its unleashed power. The young ninja with silver hair was pinned down by the fox, and he looked up into its golden eyes with not fear but confusion. Apparently amused, the big nine-tails chuckled deeply. It did not last long, however, as a man with a wide-brimless hat saying "Hokage" quickly arrived in the puff of a cloud.

With a few moves that probably actually numbered over a hundred, the old man pulled out a seal. He paused until he saw the pinned ninja then proceeded on.

"Wait!" Minato called, seemingly noticing just now what the man labeled "Hokage" was doing. "He's just a kid that just arrived!"

The old man did not stop. Soon, in fact, two other powerful ninjas experienced in seals appeared at his side to help.

The silver-haired young man did look scared now, and struggled to move; he was now pinned with several seals and glowing chains as well as the nine-tailed fox. His voice yelled, only slightly muffled by a mask, at them to stop, but it was too late for the process to be stopped.

To finish it, the Hokage shouted gruffly, "Nine-tailed demon fox spirit, kyuubi, be sealed within this new body!"

Slowly but surely the huge fox drained into its new container, until the only proof of its previous presence was Kushina's crumpled body.

It had been six minutes since Minato had said "I don't."

The man with silver hair laid still on the ground, limbs spread out. His eyes were both now visible, as one had been hidden beneath his hair before, and they shined brightly; one black and one red. They glittered with emotions that the rest of his face wouldn't show; pain, confusion, fear, loss...

Minato approached the Hokage and started speaking fast, asking about what they would do with the "kid" now.

"Minato," the old man said in his deep voice, "you will have to oversee him. As the next Hokage, this will be your duty... And it was your bride that released the monster in the first place."

"I don't even know who he is! What if he's got family?!" The blonde started becoming frantic and making wide gestures.

"You don't know this boy? Well, don't worry about family matters, his is all dead." They both looked at the young man still lying down. "He doesn't have any ties, actually, so just worry about keeping him safe and in control. Perhaps we can find another Uzumaki to pour the kyuubi into, but for now it's best that we leave it. To have broken the seals like that... perhaps we should just focus on tighter seals within the boy rather than a new host."

"Are you sure about this?" Minato questioned one last time.

"I am."

With that the old man disappeared in a puff of smoke like he had come, leaving Minato and the young man alone in the grassy outdoor clearing. The blonde sighed and walked over to the silver-headed man slowly, reluctantly. He was shocked, though, to see a single sparkling tear sliding out of the scarred red eye.

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**Sorry 'bout Kushina, I'm not a hater, I actually really like her... it just fits with the story this way :(**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ta da! A chapter after... I don't know how long... Apologies! I'll be updating again soon to make up for it.**

**Disclaimer: **_**All Naruto characters/places belong to Masashi Kishimoto, not me. The only thing I own is the plot, made-up info, and any OCs if I end up making them.**_

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**Why me?**

I looked around uneasily, feeling that so many things were wrong. It was a feeling in the pit of my stomach, cold and heavy like I might be sick, except nothing moved, nothing shifted for better or worse. It was the eternal agony called nerves that I had thought to have cured myself of, but everything building up has broken that, I guess. The uncertainty, the fear, wouldn't leave me alone and continued to swirl. Thinking in my head, "You have no valid reason for this," didn't stop the feelings anymore than it would the people around me. To put it simply, they didn't care enough to stop.

They had put me in a small apartment, they being the Hokage and council and a blonde man I didn't know. I didn't even get exactly what they had done to me, but my body felt wrong, different somehow.

The Blondie seemed nice enough, but putting me in a small space with a total stranger and only the order to stay put was influencing my liking, or rather disliking, towards him. I mean, he doesn't even know me, and I did have a job in Anbu to get to. They said I couldn't do jobs for the time being, but that totally messed up my flow. I relied on those jobs to consume my concentration, so I could not think about anything but what I was supposed to do.

Blondie seems a little out of place for this kind of treatment, too, as if he would rather they let me get back to my life. Maybe I can persuade him to let me out at least. I'm claustrophobic, you know... But it looked like when the Hokage was doing something to me he was trying just as hard to stop them. Perhaps Blondie will be helpful in the future.

I sucked in a deep breath and slowly let it out, trying to control my sudden urge to run. My limbs were heavy and full of that hot-cold feeling; the beginnings of a migraine settled in. Around me was much more furnitue than I was used to, including a couch, a table with two chairs, and one futon. Blondie was currently out, though from what I gathered we were going to be living together in this small, single room apartment. I wondered who would get the futon and who would get the couch, as we hadn't even officially talked yet. Seriously, the reason I keep calling him Blondie is 'cause I don't know his real name.

Minutes poured by like molasses as it got harder and harder to sit still. Sweat beaded down my brow, until I couldn't take it anymore and stood up. Suddenly an excruciating pain bursted out in my stomach, dragging me down to the floor. I curled up, clutching my abdomen and gritting my teeth.

A muffled click sounded and the front door, by the sink and counter, started to open. I clenched my eyes and pushed myself up and onto the couch, making it seem like I had simply fallen asleep there while relaxing and lying down.

"I'm home," Blondie's voice said tiredly, but not very loud, like he was used to coming home to an empty house but he felt the need to say something; old habits from childhood die hard, or maybe he wished he would be coming home to someone.

He crept about, probably not wanting to "wake" me up, and I was fine with staying in my curled up position to fight the pain. Before long, I even started to drift into actual sleep.

_Rocks, so many rocks falling down... They'll crush me... Something bashed into me... Is it my time to die? No! Obito! It was him, not a boulder... they're crushing him instead... Why?_

_Beside me was Rin... crying... Rin is always crying over us... But Obito! He'll die!_

_Everything swirled, turning black and purple, twisting Obito's and Rin's faces; enhancing their cries of, "Why did you kill us?! Why?!" My left eye socket throbbed, it wanted the eye belonging to it back, not the eye of one of my victims..._

_It all flashed into a scene with fire surrounding a gigantic red figure with so many tails, nine tails. It was a fox that was hungry, hungry for evil blood and I was closest; I would make the perfect meal for a hungering demon. But it surged passed me, it did not kill me in one blow, it went on to the red-haired girl. She screamed, but it was the scream of the guilty._

_"Why?!" I pleaded. "Kill me!"_

_It laughed and spoke gently, "I am not your enemy. You are not mine. We will be one."_

_The voice was too feminine for such a huge creature, it was too ladylike. Everything denied itself before I could see it, and then it all went up in flames. Hot, burning fire raged across me, digging through my stomach; the pain was unbearable! Excruciating-_

"Wake up," a soft voice lifted me out of the dream, soft hands accompanied it by shaking me gently; like rocking a crib. Sway, sway, sway the baby to sleep again... Sway, sway, sway the child to happy lands...

Memories hit me like a breath of cold air, and I jumped up, back on alert and away from Blondie's hands and face. Pain or no, I refused to show weakness in front of, for all I knew, an enemy.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down kid," he said quickly. "I'm not your enemy."

Who knew? Blondie reads minds.

"Don't touch me," I snarled, feeling like a cornered dog.

"Okay, but living in this small of an apartment, I can't make any solid promises other than I'll try."

"What do you want?" I asked harshly, eager to get away from him, away from this painful position. Normally I would have kept my cool, but again, so many things building up had taken a toll on my calm.

"Hm?" Blondie looked puzzled by my question.

I took in a breath through my nose quickly and almost started hyperventilating. Is this what happens when a bunch of stress builds up? "You woke me up for a reason, right?"

"Oh, that," he said in an enlightened tone. "You looked like you were having a nightmare or something."

Crap, I'm gonna have to be careful with this guy. "Then please refrain from touching me and just yell," I said, forcing myself to stop grimacing.

"Boo," Blondie pouted. "But what should I yell? I don't even know your name..." he continued, obviously aiming for me to fill in the blank.

"I don't know yours either."

"Oh, then let me introduce myself. I am Minato Namikaze." He stuck out his hand for me to shake, but I just glared at it. If he was hoping for me to actually touch him and shake his hand his hopes were in vain.

I got the feeling this Minato guy was very persistent when he kept his smile on blindingly cheerful and his hand stretched a little closer to me. Perhaps Blondie was simply naïve and thought my reach was the problem. With a sudden dash of frustration I smacked the hand away, eyes murderous.

"Kakashi Hatake," I spat, "now please leave me be."

Blondie may have had a spark of hurt within his features, but I turned away, making myself unable to see that. A flash of pain burst through my abdomen again, leaving me to blink away white spots while keeping my expression firm. If he saw any weakness in me I had a feeling I would lose, although I wasn't sure what.

"W-well then..." Blondie sounded more surprised than anything, so it was probably safe to assume the only hurt he would receive was from shock. "This will be awkward." As if from a sudden revelation, Minato became aware, at least I assume this is what happened, that we would both be staying in this cramped apartment.

In a different situation, I would've laughed at his expression. His blond brows tugged down in a look of furrowed concentration, making his blue eyes seem darker; his pale lips were pressed together and his cheeks sucked in. But I didn't laugh at the wrinkled forehead, nor at his slightly twitching nostrils. I was rendered unable to find any humor in Blondie's expression, because I was entranced. No small detail of his hunched figure made its way past me, not the way his blond locks managed to come down a little from their spikes all-the-while looking silky and smooth, not the rhythmic tapping of anxious fingers, and certainly not the light scent of fresh air mixed with citrus. Noticing all of the details in such a way carried away the pain that had blasted through my stomach. Knowing where my thoughts had led me took away my previous rage. It made everything calm inside of me.

Another day, another place, another time might have granted me other insights, might have left my head cool enough to deal with its path. As it was, I had been abandoned by rational thinking along with everything else. So I ran.

I ran out the door with my vision a sort of blurry haze. Behind me I could sense someone following, but I didn't care. I was escaping, I desperately needed a place to hide away. The ground whizzed away as I transferred to running across the roofs of the village. Past the town square where my life had been ruined, past the Hokage's office building, past everything I had ever known. The forest outside of Konohagakure welcomed me with open arms and shadowy cover beneath the trees.

The presence tailing me grew more and more distanced with every step. It was just me and the dewy wildlife now, with all manner of civilization abandoned. Fresh air filled my lungs, spiking my nose with the spiced scent of pines and sappy bark. All of it a reminder of nothing, but a sign of newness, a symbol of change. For a moment, I allowed myself to breathe, to feel my chest expand with life-giving air.

A voice ruined all hopes of relaxation, though.

"Hatake-san," Minato's words rang throughout the forest. "Please don't run again." Something about his tone suggested a seriousness that hadn't been there before.

"Where do I even have to go?" I whispered before clamping my jaw tightly, biting my tongue to keep myself centered, and _here_.

"You could try coming with me?" A glance over my shoulder showed Blondie's soft, knowing expression, like he understood. Again I had that angry impulse to smack him away; he was too curious, too open about himself. It made me feel like I was the criminal.

"We saw how well that worked out," I laughed dryly, my lips not even making it to a full smirk.

"Yes, well, practice makes perfect." He sounded so sure that it would work out, even though he was still a complete stranger.

"And how many tries before we give up and say it's hopeless?" No one could last forever. No one could for me.

"As many as it takes to see it isn't." I turned when he was silent for a moment and looked into his blue eyes to see a resolve. "I never give up, you see, especially not on a person I can save."

"So now I'm being saved? From what, exactly?" My dark eyes looked at him dully, the usual morbid humor I held absent.

"Everyone's being saved," he scoffed lightly, but his eyes were still serious, his cheeks still pulled tight. "Some people just need a little more saving than others. Some people do a little more saving." A false smile appeared, an unworthy imitation of his cheerful blinding ones.

"You can stop wasting your breath, I've heard that whole speech before. I'm surprised, I didn't think they'd put me with a therapist at this point. Please, do tell me what patient role I'm meant to be playing? Traumatized, perhaps, or the victim of enemy torture. I know those roles well, do you?"

If Minato expected a single spec of emotion when I looked into his eyes again, he was sorely disappointed. Cold black was all he would get, and maybe a bit of red if he didn't choose his words wisely. My muscles twitched reflexively at a burst of white-hot pain in my stomach, and it was only harsh training that saved me from showing Blondie how weak I was. I didn't even flinch, but rolled into the movement with a step towards him, eyes nearly on the same level.

"Nah, I was thinking more of a dependent, broken person. You know, like in the good ol' books where the guy takes care of the girl and then: boom. Voila, relationship based on true romance." His eyes squinted, almost in confusion, for a moment, leaving me to think to myself.

"Well, I hope you've realized that I'm a man, at this point." I stared him down relentlessly.

"Ah. Yes, I suppose that is a rather large chink in the plan, isn't it?" Minato put his hand on his chin and stroked it ponderously. He sat on a gnarled tree root at least a foot off the ground.

I took a second to wonder if he was actually serious, and then I worried in another second for my safety. "Therapist" can also be seen as "the rapist," you know. And he hadn't objected to me calling him one, either.

"Right, so I'm gonna go, and you do me a favor and stay _right_ there."

In a poof of air I shunshined into a tree about fifty feet away an started climbing quietly, hoping Blondie wouldn't be smart enough to find me.

"Ah! Hatake-san," his startled voice called out.

Silently, when I had reached the top, I set up a genjutsu that made me invisible. Only an S-class could find me with this type, someone Kage-level or above. It was just a bit lonely, but I desperately needed time to group my thoughts together, to get the pain completely under control.

_Pull yourself together_, I mentally shouted at myself. If ever there was a time to be together, it was now. The phantom pain in my eye was back, the there-not-there hurt, along with the searing slashes that scratched across my abdomen. A breath in, a breath out. Flow, ebb; sway, still; surge, vanish.

My mind drifted until I was able to focus it on my situation. Not me swaying precariously at the top of a tree, but me with something, some demon, inside me. It only occurred to me then that I was missing the majority of the facts, so all I could do was plan hypothetically. I decided things would probably go better if someone answered my questions, and that became my focus. Pondering turned to thinking, thinking to plotting, and plotting to action. Even Blondie wasn't innocent, after all, no one is, and I felt no remorse at the conscious decision to use him.

A sudden choking noise came from my right, and coughing to clear it up. I turned minutely and saw, to my surprise and horror, Minato pounding on his chest in a not-so-far-away tree. He looked, other than the choking part, like he had made himself comfortable in the crook of a large branch, as if he had been there for a while.

_You're kidding me, right?_

If I hadn't been working on control my face would have flushed; whether it was anger, pain, embarrassment, or aggravation, I had a strong emotional response to finding the little spy. One thing was for sure now: my supervisor was pretty strong. He had seen through my genjutsu and had completely hidden his chakra while he just waited and watched. Mixed feelings were probably understandable, but I repressed them anyway. An enemy can always use your emotions against you, so throw them away before they get you in trouble. That's one of the first rules when going on missions. Your heart can sway you and your loyalty, so lock it away before it does. In the ninja world, your loyalties lie with whom you pledged them to, and changing that will lose you respect and safety.

I turned fully to Blondie, as there was no use pretending now, and sighed softly. I really, really didn't want to go back to the cramped apartment after tasting freedom, but I doubted that would serve as an excuse. When Minato started rubbing his head bashfully, I did a double-take. A light blush dusted his cheeks and he looked as if he were embarrassed for something.

"Whatever," I muttered under my breath, then hopped down to the ground, sticking the landing like a graceful cat. Blondie, on the other hand, slipped before he could jump and tumbled down, though somehow he managed to land on his feet.

"Time to go home," he said cheerfully with a closed-eye smile.

I didn't respond and just started walking, a tiny bit ticked off when I noticed again that he was taller than me.

"So," Minato whispered conspiratorially, "do you like ramen?"

I raised my eyebrows, confused. Where the heck did ramen come from? How in the world did this man's thought process lead him to ramen?


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:_ I is not owning Naruto... I could never keep anything going on that long without at least one genderbender..._**

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**Revealing A Few Things**

"So, do you like ramen?"

"..."

"Awwwkwwwaarrrrrrdd..." I dragged out and deformed the word, changing pitches as I went, after a long moment of silence. The goal was to make my captive, as I'm sure that's what he felt like, smile. The only result was his finely arched silver brows raising a tad.

My lips drooped, bottom one sticking out in a pout. "Ramen's my favorite food, you know...you could at least react..."

The silence continued on, and I felt even more so than before that I was treading a delicately carved path. Metaphorically speaking, of course; Hatake-san and the course we were taking back to the village appeared very sturdy. It just seemed like the masked ninja would very easily pull away if I pushed too hard. And that was the real feat. So far it looked like he really didn't like me in the least.

"Come on," I pleaded, "even monosyllabic answers will do." I made my best puppy dog face, and I think his black eye softened a teeny bit.

"Surprised you know such a word," he said with the barest trace of sarcasm.

My grin came back full strength, completely real. The one fake smile I had used didn't go so well, so I decided to try and keep them natural. The impostors were really good imitations, but I suspected Kakashi was especially sensitive to those things. If I could keep him with me, I could learn enough to actually befriend him rather than force my way in. Hopefully the latter wouldn't be necessary, because I was pretty sure Sarutobi-san would end up requiring me to be close to Hatake-san. Tons of reasons behind that.

"Yay!" I cheered childishly. "That means we're gonna go!" My joy startled him a tad, enough to get a response.

"Where?"

"Ichiraku's Ramen Stand!"

I knew he was thinking something like, 'Excuse me,' but he sadly deprived me of hearing such a thought. I had no idea how I was gonna get my social hours in with this guy.

_I'll have to take him on walks. Regularly._

"I figured you would want to eat out, you know, and since I'm gonna pay for it I get to choose." Again, Kakashi didn't respond verbally, but I could feel his thanks.

_Hmm, maybe this isn't such a lost cause after all._

We arrived pretty quickly, somehow turning the trip into a race. It may have been my doing, for I did egg him on a bit. I had decided to give him a chance to recapture his pride and beat me, but I ended up getting competitive. At least I took him with me when I raced away. Otherwise I am sure he would have gotten lost or run away again. Though I would have willingly accepted his excuse, I didn't want to give it to him.

So I kinda grabbed his hand and blazed through the streets of Konoha. They don't call me the Yellow Flash for nothing.

When we had arrived I prepared to apologize, but to my surprise Kakashi was grinning. You couldn't really tell because of the mask, but I felt it. Don't call me weird, I know what smiles feel like because of a short period of time in which I studied them. That's why I can mimic them so well. Though that is besides the point.

I jumped up and down joyfully, still holding Kakashi's hand and thus bringing him with me. His visible eye widened, and then the one hidden by hair was revealed on the way down. This eye was not the same black as the other. A scar ran straight through it, and the iris was red with three black tomoes (comma shapes) in it circling the pupil. I had seen the eye before, on the first day we met, but I took this opportunity to examine it.

"So this is a sharingan!" I said softly in amazement.

Kakashi immediately closed up. He yanked his hand away, his silver hair fell over his eye again, and his grin disappeared. I felt my blunder deeply, but I was confused at exactly _why _it had been a mistake. Was it the mention of his sharingan? Or the fact that I had seen it? Or possibly a combination of the two? I had no idea because I didn't know Kakashi at all. It was frustrating. I had never felt so agitated with myself for not knowing someone except possibly when Kushina had shown her true colors.

I realized then exactly how much I wanted to get to know Kakashi. It probably wasn't even a matter of liking him and wanting to know more, because as I just stated I really didn't know him, but it was more of a wanting to help him. Something within Kakashi made me sad, and I guess I wanted to fix it, I wanted to help him to get over that sad and broken part. But I had no idea how to do that without infringing upon his space, something he obviously disliked.

Without talking I led him into Ichiraku's shop and ordered for both of us, as Kakashi had never been to a ramen stand before. We ate in an uncomfortable silence. I took slow, measured bites, staring blankly and thinking about how in the world this was going to work if we fought so easily, especially when it was totally a one-sided thing. I struggled to come up with a way to smooth things over, first and foremost, but it was for naught. Kakashi took things into his own hands.

"Who exactly are you?" he said in an expressionless voice. I had forgotten he was Anbu repeatedly, but he kept reminding me with his lack of feeling.

I took a minute to consider how to best answer without unintentionally pushing him away. "I... I am Minato Namikaze, Konaha's Yellow Flash, future Hokage... I was going to be a husband until what happened the day this stuff happened. I like ramen, helping people, and people that stand out. My dream to be Hokage is currently being fulfilled so I still have to come up with a new one. I dislike being left out of the know, I am the sannin Jiraiya's apprentice, I invent jutsu's with overly complicated names, or so I am told, and... I am your, how you say, 'guardian' until further notice because of circumstances."

"...Is that always how you introduce yourself?" I found myself laughing at Kakashi's invisible yet evident disbelief. He couldn't hide from me what he was feeling all the time.

"No, only when they say exactly." My smile faded as I prepared to go on with what it seemed my silver-haired charge was going to turn into a question-and-answer session.

"Why do I need a 'guardian?'" He looked at me with a serious expression, tension written all over.

"This would probably be best discussed somewhere less," I paused to gesture at all the people in the shop, "crowded. Shall we return home?" I stood without waiting to hear his response and dug out some ryo to pay for the meal.

"Good to see you so well, Minato," Teuchi, the owner and a friend, said pleasantly.

"You too, you too," I replied in kind.

I walked out, checking to make sure Kakashi was following. He was, thankfully. I stopped until he was beside me and then resumed walking. He had a straight posture, as always, and a straight face to go with. I had to resist an urge to get right up in his face and do something to make him show of our steadily progressing relationship as "friends" made it easier.

"How much do you already know?" I asked, studying Kakashi out of the corner of my eye for reactions to what would be said.

"Something is inside me."

_Short and precise. He really knows how to make this easier on me._

I sensed he knew more but I let him get away with that. "It is the Kyuubi, the nine-tailed fox demon. It was sealed within you because of that whole thing with my... With the previous container." My heart squeezed slightly at the topic of Kushina, but I knew it had to be talked about. "The woman who was going to be my wife was the jinchuriki, but for some reason it managed to break the seal. Because you had happened upon the scene and were conveniently there Hokage Sarutobi didn't waste time and sealed it into you. Because of the last time though, rather than transferring the Kyuubi they want to focus on strengthening the seals. However, as far as I know, the host has never been a man before so we don't know if something will happen differently, nor do we know how it will react to being in you."

Around us the streets were essentially empty as the night approached. Those who were out minded their own business and left us well alone. A chill warned of the upcoming winter. Kakashi didn't say anything else for a while, just considering everything. His mouth was a straight line. In a moment of boredom I thought to myself that everything about Kakashi was straight. Then I cleared that away and focused fully on getting a read on him.

"So the reason you are my guardian is?" He enunciated the you, which I found kind of offensive.

"I am not only strong enough to stand against possible assassins, but I know seals that would help in case the ones already on start loosening." I tried to keep the indignation out of my voice.

He raised his eyebrows, and I could have sworn he smirked. "I think I can take care of myself. But you're welcome to try, if it will make you feel better."

I stuck my tongue out childishly. "If you doubt me so much I may have to take this to the training fields and show you how I fight."

"Sounds like a deal. How about a bet?" He was baiting me. He was definitely baiting me.

"Alright." I probably agreed too readily, but I guess I was just feeling confident? Meh. Totally took the bait.

"If I win, you have to let me go on missions again. If you win... Well, you may choose that."

A plan formulated in my head. "If I win, you have to take your mask off," I said, grinning. His expression made me laugh. I had actually gotten half a reaction with that! But more than that, I was super curious as to what the mask was hiding. Was his natural face ugly? Was there a scar? Or was he just doing it to mess with people? I sort of expected it to be that last one, just because I was starting to get to know him.

"Fine." For a second I wondered if we were going to shake on it, but apparently not.

At last we were at the apartment. After a rather roundabout route, we had made it to the end of that and our conversation. It was time to get settled down for the night.

"Ah!" I made a short exclamation when something dawned on me. We had yet to discuss who would be where in the small space we would be sharing.

As if reading my thoughts, Kakashi asked, "Couch or futon?"

I furrowed my brows, but as I had expected I couldn't decide that kind of thing on my own. "I don't know, what do you want?" Kakashi seemed like he knew what he wanted in life, so I was sure he would have a quick answer.

"I do not care either way."

_Noooooooo, plan failed!_

I frowned dejectedly. "I don't know though," I whined. Kakashi just raised those finely arched eyebrows.

"Well then, I asked you first." My heart warmed, but I kept that secret as I continued. I couldn't believe he was responding so well! My silver-haired charge was definitely progressing.

"Fine then. Rock, paper, scissors? Winner gets..." I took a moment to 'eanie meanie miney moe' it out in my head, and then quickly decide whether to pick the one I landed on or the one left out. Life has way too many hard decisions in it that I just wasn't made to make. "Couch."

Brows still up, he agreed. Together we said "rock, paper, scissors," and all my worries of having to choose were disappearing when we tied on scissors.

"You have to be kidding me," I gasped. "Again," I quickly commanded. We were doing this whether luck wanted us to or not. We tied again on rock this time. Following this same track, we tied on scissors, paper, scissors yet again, rock, rock, paper, rock, scissors and so on for what felt like forever. By the time someone won, I had actually forgotten which one the winner would get, and re-choosing would defeat the purpose of that game because that would just be like saying I wanted that one. Oh, I won, by the way, with rock to Kakashi's scissors.

"Do you remember what the winner was supposed to get, by any chance?" I asked him somewhat timidly.

"No idea," he replied dryly.

I laughed both at how silly this was and because I had managed to pull Kakashi right in with me. It seemed so far from the morning where I had reached my hand out to shake and he had smacked it away. Suddenly his face stiffened, along with the rest of his form. His hand at his side spasmed, almost reaching for his chest.

"Hatake-san?" I questioned him worriedly. He glared at me, but it was weak. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he grunted, but the barest crack in his barrier of emotion betrayed him. He was in pain. And judging from what I knew of Kakashi, he could and would easily hide any pain he was ever in; so this break meant he was in a _lot _of pain.

"Hatake-san," I said sternly, unforgivingly, "you must not hide your pain." I fished for a logical reason for him to talk about it, because he needed one. "It could be because of the Kyuubi."

"I said it's nothing," he said firmly, controlling himself well.

If I wanted to get anywhere I was going to have to change tactics.

"Fine. Alright, you get the futon, I think winner was supposed to get the couch. I guess we'll have to move the table first, though. How about you go get it while I do the moving." It wasn't really a request, and thankfully he didn't argue.

I pushed the table up against the wall and waited for Kakashi to make it back from the closet. Just to make sure he hadn't collapsed or anything I went over to check on him. He had a hand against the wall to support himself and was breathing a little heavily. His navy blue shirt was drenched and his silver his hair was slick with sweat.

"Hatake-san," I whispered under my breath. It was clearly not 'nothing' as he had said, but I wasn't sure what to do. In a split second that I wish would always be how long it took I made a decision.

I walked back to the main area of the apartment. "Hatake-san," I called out to him, "I'm coming over to help, okay?"

I made sure to wait another few seconds before actually going, giving him time to pull on his mask. I walked slowly at first, then normally. He was grabbing the sheets down when he was in sight again. I snatched the mattress part to go lay it on the floor while he did that, and faced no protest. I laid it out in the center of the room, and then went back for the sheets to meet him halfway.

"I'll handle it," I said politely. Again, no protest.

After setting everything up, I ushered him under the sheets until I remembered the sweat.

"Don't you think it's pretty hot for a fall night?" I asked, sounding fake in my opinion. At this point I took a few liberties. First, I stripped Kakashi's shirt off. Then, to make him more comfortable, I did so to myself as well. It was freaking freezing. I couldn't understand how his body would allow him to sweat so much.

"What are you doing?" Kakashi sort of growled, voice so faint I barely heard.

"Nothing, nothing," I excused myself. "Just go to sleep okay? It's too hot for shirts tonight."

He didn't put up much of a fight in the end and just fell onto the futon. I was worried, but I really couldn't do anything else without damaging both his ego and what little acquaintanceship we had.

I lied down on the couch, squirming until I was comfortable. I closed my eyes and considered everything that had happened. It seemed so surreal that Kushina had turned out to be working for people that wanted me dead. I remembered when we had met in the academy, how I had first been attracted to her hair... A panging sensation filled my heart and I moved on to different thoughts. Next, as soon as she had betrayed me, Kakashi had gotten sucked into everything. He was a lone wolf type, and I had to get close to him and protect him, the two things he wanted me to do least. And now he seemed to be in pain and I couldn't do anything about it because he wouldn't tell me what was wrong. Everything seemed to be rushing by too fast, leaving me in the dust.

Beside me I heard Kakashi's breathing getting increasingly uneven. I felt another pang in my chest, a squeezing that probably came from seeing someone that so clearly needed help but was unwilling to receive it. I clenched my fists together, doing the only thing Kakashi would let me do. I prayed for him.

•\•|~•~|•/•

**How much you wanna bet that Kakashi was cheating? Oh well, I guess we'll never know. So, as promised, I am here quickly with an update! I'm really just trying to catch ffn up with Wattpad though. Expect another fastish update and then this one will be all caught up. Then it will be on to actually writing a chapter! Mer... That may take a little longer since I've got some particular inspiration for my Harry Potter fanfic.**

**Ciao! **


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